Virus Of Hope
by Hexalys
Summary: Yamaki is TK, though he doesn't remember it until a DigiGnome interferes. Life has made him bitter, angry, and he just wants the Digimon gone. However, with Bio-Emerges increasing everyday and Hypnos proving ineffective, he might have to take matters into his own hands. But how can he with Patamon missing and his new Digivice seemingly convinced that a Virus is his partner now?


**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything…

Okay, I had this idea a long time ago before I realized that the Tamers series was of a different continuity than Adventure/02. While I was browsing the internet the other day, I came across a captioned image that had the same idea. The thought was that Yamaki was actually TK all grown up, he and the others just simply forgot that they used to be Digidestined.

When I saw this picture, I knew I had to put my plot up on Fanfiction. So here it is. The plotline will follow the episodes, but there will be some serious changes as Yamaki becomes more involved. Since this story focuses on connecting Adventure/02 and Tamers, there will be a major AU ending with 02. Another one of these major shifts is that the kids who are Impmon's original Tamers, Ai and Mako, do not exist here. I did this for several reasons that will be explained in the following chapters. There will be other twists and surprises, but you'll just have to read to find out what they are.

The chapter starts on the day after episode 9, about halfway into episode 10. Please enjoy and leave me feedback on what you think!

~Virus of Hope~

Chapter 1: Memories Awakened

Mitsuo Yamaki, the Head of the Hypnos, gritted his teeth angrily as he clenched the silver lighter in his right hand. He could not believe how quickly things were deteriorating beyond his control, of how everything had shifted so rapidly. He passed through the glass doors, leaving headquarters behind so that he could smoke in secret. He desperately needed it right now and was in no mood for Riley's disapproving looks. As he paused at the crosswalk, Yamaki's overly stressed mind tried to puzzle out how the original purpose of his project had changed so much over the years.

Hypnos' was originally designed to monitor the electronic communications that covered over half the planet as a SIGINT system for the Japanese government. Basically it was a spy network setup to catch criminals by monitoring bank accounts, stock exchanges, identities and much, much more. Because of the legal issues for violating privacy and breaking over a dozen human rights laws, Hypnos was kept secret from the public and most governments.

However, a few months after Hypnos had finally been completed, they'd accidentally discovered the Wild Ones. Anomalies in the grid, bits of data so advanced that it managed to find a way to materialize itself into the Real World from the digital network. Yamaki had been shocked when he'd witnessed the first Bio-Emergence. The fact that the data took the form of monsters from a children's card game was just the icing on the cake. The Wild One went berserk in its new surroundings, shooting fire from its mouth and destroying a nearby car.

Fortunately, the creature hadn't been bullet proof.

When Yamaki had reported the Wild Ones to the Board, he'd noticed their strange reaction. They had looked anxious and troubled, but not surprised. It made him wonder if humans had made contact with the Wild Ones before. Surely not though, Digimon weren't real. The Wild Ones had simply recreated themselves into those forms by copying the already existing data. As a result, the agency's new objective became to detect the Wild Ones for when they Bio-Emerged into the real world and to prevent it from happening. Of course, their efforts at first proved to be unsuccessful, but as time went on they'd developed newer and more effective methods of deletion.

The smaller masses of data were the most common Wild Ones that attempted to Bio-Emerge and the deletion programs handled them most of the time. A few Wild Ones had managed to emerge over the past year, but Hypnos had always made sure to have an attack team on standby, deleting the errant data that had broken through. Recently though, this hadn't been the case.

The Wild Ones were increasing in numbers, more and more Bio-Emerges were occurring. Worst of all, his new program, Yuggoth, was a risk factor. The program was far too untested for his liking to start using, he knew Riley had been upset with him for activating Yuggoth the other night, but he had little choice what with the Board breathing down his neck and Wild Ones seemingly Bio-Emerging every other day.

Another duty the agency had picked up over the years, one that Yamaki personally hated and left the PR department to deal with, was to prevent media leaks concerning the Wild Ones. They handled creating cover stories for the incidents when a Wild One did manage Bio-Emergence, such as explaining the odd bouts in weather, property damage, or the occasional eye witness reports concerning "monsters".

Moving to the other side of the crosswalk, Yamaki could see the damage that the Digimon had done last night. Claw marks were on the side of the building, an adjoining parking lot had been destroyed, and the commute bridge now had a gaping hole in its structure. Of course people asked questions. How had the damage been done? Had it been a terrorist attack? Yamaki had no idea what Riley had told the media, he just knew that no one was panicking.

As he slowly made his way to the park, a small group of children ran by, forcibly reminding Yamaki of why Hypnos was having so many problems. It was those damn kids' fault, he was sure of it. His shades dutifully hid the glare that was tracking the group of children. He could almost see that brat with those ridiculous goggles and his friends instead.

He'd spotted the group of kids last night, surrounded by their pet Digimon. The red dinosaur-like creature, the one that had caused so much damage, belonged to the goggle-headed boy. The other boy, the one with the orange vest, had had some sort of rabbit Digimon on his shoulder. And lastly there was the moody girl, who'd been standing next to a tall humanoid fox Digimon. Yamaki clenched his teeth in irritation once again. '_Foolish children, meddling in things they can't possibly understand!_' He quickly regained his composure and smirked to himself. It didn't matter in the end, he'd take care of those kid's Digimon soon enough.

Finally arriving in the park, the Head of Hypnos wasted no time in pulling out a cigarette and lighting it up. He took a deep drag from the tobacco filled stick and exhaled, feeling only slightly guilty that he was breaking his promise to quit. As his nerves eased a little, Yamaki mentally reviewed the latest programs he'd updated Yuggoth with, knowing that it wasn't enough. Every new Wild One that Bio-Emerged these days seemed to be stronger than the last.

The man was so lost in thought, busily graphing out complex coding in his head, that he didn't even notice a Digital Field forming around him until it was too late.

"What?!" Yamaki shouted in surprise as the convergence field thickened, becoming a dense fog. "Sure, of course, why not? Like my day couldn't get any worse." His cell phone rang and he answered it immediately as he pulled out the standard issued handgun that all Hypnos employees were ordered to carry for just such an emergency. "Yamaki."

"_Sir, there's been another Bio-Emergence._" Riley reported and he narrowed his blue eyes at the surrounding vapor. "_We've already tried tracing and deleting the Wild One but–_"

"I know. It just so happens to be Bio-Emerging in front of me at the moment." He replied calmly as he brought up his gun, safety off ready to be fired just as soon as he spotted the silhouette of his target.

"_What? Sir, you have to clear the area! I'll send a squadron to your location and–_" He chuckled as he heard her panic on the other end of the line. Riley worked great behind a desk, but put her in the field and she'd wear herself out by worrying and running around in circles.

"No need, by the time they get here, I'll have already finished it off." Whatever Riley was about to say next was cut off as he caught sight of something white shooting out from the fog. It hit Yamaki from the right side, knocking him to the ground with his cell phone landing a few feet away from him. If he concentrated hard enough, he thought he could almost hear Riley's frantic shouts.

Yamaki rolled over onto his stomach, ignoring the way his breath had been knocked out of him, and opened fire on what looked like a green ogre. It stood about two feet taller than him with green skin, white hair, and a long open mouth that showed off its sharp fangs. The tall creature quickly brought up its' weapon defensively, Yamaki distantly realized that the club was actually a large bone, and blocked the two shots.

"Bone Cudgel!" The Wild One shouted as the bone, which was easily the size of Yamaki's arm, came shooting towards him. He hastily rolled to the side in an awkward manner, barely avoiding the weapon by a few inches. As the club returned to the monster in a boomerang-like fashion, Yamaki pushed his advantage and quickly fired at the ogre once more. The creature dodged most of the bullets, proving that despite its size it was rather agile, but one bullet managed to graze its' shoulder, making it hiss and howl in pain. Its' reaction brought a satisfyingly dark smirk to his face.

"You'll pay for that, human." The creature growled in a grating tone while it raised one of its' large fists. Yamaki didn't even see the blow that sent him skidding across the ground and closer to his phone. Gasping in pain, he struggled onto his hands and needs, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from screaming. His chest would definitely be left bruised after taking that hit.

"Maybe I could use that backup after all." He muttered as he grabbed his phone, prepared to swallow his pride and give Riley those exact orders. It seemed that luck wasn't on his side today though. The screen was cracked and the antenna was missing, there was no way he was going to be able to reach Riley now.

"Pummel Whack!" The shout was enough to let Yamaki know that he had stayed still for too long. He blindly dove forward into the ground, hoping that the attack would safely sail overhead. A strong breeze brushed through his hair and the man sighed in relief as his hunch paid off.

Pushing himself off the ground into a kneeling position and dropping his cell, Yamaki reloaded his gun, silently cursing himself for not carrying more than one extra clip of ammo. He fired at the Wild One again, getting a solid hit in the creatures left arm this time. It yelled and screamed, but no blood spilt out. The only thing that happened was that its arm began to pixelate furiously for a few moments before settling down. He felt his mouth twist into a sneer.

Data didn't bleed; it could only be corrupted, erased.

Abandoning its' strategy of attacking from a distance, the enraged ogre charged at him, forcing Yamaki to retreat deeper into the park. Ignoring the numerous aches of his body, he mentally prayed that they wouldn't run into any civilians. The last thing he wanted was to lead the Wild One to a jungle gym full of toddlers. '_Where are those damn kids and their Digimon when you actually need them?_' The man thought angrily as he darted through a cluster of trees to throw off his pursuer.

~Virus of Hope~

Takato Matsuki's whole body twitched as his Digivice went off, the slight ping instantly earning Ms. Asaji's attention. She sighed in annoyance, set down the book that she'd been reading aloud, and gave the classroom a frown that was mixed with exhaustion. Her gaze landed on him for a second and Takato gave her his most innocent expression. He hoped it looked convincing, since he knew he couldn't lie to save his life.

"I don't know how many times I have to say this, but cell phones are not allowed to be on during class." Her stern eyes continued to roam over the room and Takato could feel sweat begin to build on the back of his neck. Using every ounce of his stealth skills, he looked down at his Digivice that was hidden underneath his desk. The holographic screen appeared, thankfully without making any noise this time. It didn't show him what Digimon had appeared, but a red marker pointed west, showing him the location of where it was entering the Real World.

"Oh no, that's in the direction of the park!" Takato shouted in alarm as he looked out the window, forgetting where he was in that moment.

"Takato!" Ms. Asaji called from the front of the class. He jumped in surprise and looked ahead to see his classmates snickering at him. He was pretty sure he heard Kazu muttering a 'busted' to his right. "Turn your phone off or else I will."

"Uh, yes sir, uh, I mean ma'am! I'm sorry, it won't happen again." He quickly stuffed his Digivice into his pocket and brought his textbook up to cover his burning face as the rest of the class laughed. He heard Ms. Asaji sigh, a sure sign that his teacher was already over the incident, and worriedly bit at his lip.

Guilmon was still stuck as Growlmon from last night's fight against Devidramon, so hiding him hadn't been the easiest thing to do. Fortunately Henry had helped him solve that problem by suggesting they use the Shinjiku Tunnel, which was pretty close to the park. Hopefully Guilmon had enough sense to stay out of sight and leave this Digimon alone. If anyone saw him it would cause mass panic, just like in the movies. An image of the air force and military opening fire on Growlmon came to him and Takato cursed his imagination as he thought about all the things that could go wrong. '_Guilmon, please be okay boy._'

~Virus of Hope~

Henry Wong glanced at the classroom door again. He'd already talked his way out of class three times this past week, so he doubted the teacher would believe the upset stomach excuse again. His Digivice was in his backpack, but he could still hear the muffled noise that alerted him to a new Digimon entering to the Real World.

Looking down towards Terriermon, who was pretending to be a stuffed toy as usual, Henry slowly shook his head. '_Sorry buddy, but I can't skip class again._' Terriermon gave a soft sigh, but returned to his staring contest with the chalkboard. '_Hopefully one of the others will be able to deal with it._'

~Virus of Hope~

Rika Nonaka stood in the empty hallway of her school. She brought up her Digivice, annoyed that it only showed her which direction the Digimon was.

"Renamon." She stated, not turning around as she felt her Digimon appear behind her.

"Yes Rika?" Rika would never say it aloud, but she admired Renamon's attitude. She was always calm, always in control of herself and her opponents. A good thing too because she would have ditched Renamon is she had turned out to be dumb like goggle-head's wimpy Digimon.

"I trust you can take care of this on your own?" She asked as she finally turned to glance at her partner. If she didn't know any better, Rika would have said that Renamon was smirking at her.

"I'll walk all over him."

~Virus of Hope~

Yamaki knew he was in trouble. His plan had been to slow the Wild One down and gain some sort of cover to shoot from, but the ogre showed no signs of fatigue as it persistently trailed behind him. Instead his plan had backfired and now he was the one slowing down as his body struggled to keep up the demanding pace. As he glanced at his surroundings, Yamaki was dismayed to find that he'd run in a circle, winding back up at the Wild One's origin point.

"Pummel Whack!" This time the move made a direct hit. A powerful force slammed into his back, knocking him into the ground with a force that made his bones rattle. '_Well, that's going to leave a mark_.' Before Yamaki could get back up, the ogre slammed its' foot into his back, making him cough and sputter as the added weight pressed down on his already overworked lungs. The gun had flown out of his hands, the momentum sending it far beyond his reach and into some nearby bushes. As if to taunt him for his earlier decision of denying any need for assistance, Yamaki saw that his broken phone was sitting just inches away to his right.

When the creature laughed, it was loud and brutish, leading the Head of Hypnos to suspect that the creature itself was rather slow. So he hadn't even been beaten by a worthy opponent. The Wild One began to talk about how strong it was, how a Digimon such as itself, could never lose to a lowly human. It pressed down harder on his back and Yamaki found it almost impossible to breathe. His spotty vision started to dim as his limbs began to feel numb and heavy.

He realized, with a start that sent his heart racing, that he was losing consciousness. Yamaki clenched his jaw and moved his body as best he could in a vain attempt to throw the creature off of him. He knew for certain, that if he were to close his eyes now, he likely wouldn't wake up again. The Digimon wouldn't stop after merely knocking him out, it would kill him.

His mind went into overdrive to think of a solution, mapping out the situation and calculating his next move. He'd lost his weapon, he couldn't contact Riley for help, he couldn't escape his enemy, and there was no backup on its way. Yamaki's eyes widened, his sunglasses lost after the monster's last attack, as the grisly reality dawned on him.

He was going to die. This Wild One, the very thing that he hunted for the past year, was going to be his end. Even in such a state, the irony of it all was not lost on Yamaki. He angrily slammed a fist into the ground, ignoring the way his body protested at the movement when it was already so close to giving out.

'_I wish I could just understand why! Why do these things exist? How could those children be so found of them?!_' The answers, as they always had, evaded him. '_Please, I just want to understand!_" Yamaki wasn't sure who he was calling out to in that moment as he'd never been a particularly religious man, but he just couldn't roll over and die. He wouldn't accept succumbing to such a fate.

Despite it all, he had hope that he would survive.

And against all odds, or perhaps because the situation seemed so bleak, something responded to his silent pleads. A lone DigiGnome hovered near the top of a tree, hiding in the leaves and watching the events down below. It heard the human's desires and with a mischievous smile, granted his wish. For a brief second, its' body gave off a soft white light before disappearing back to the Digital World.

Yamaki reached outwards with some difficulty and managed to grab his broken cell phone, unable to think of a way out of his situation. He eyed it desperately, foolishly wanting to hear Riley's voice one last. Then suddenly, his phone began to glow. Startled, he instantly let go of the mobile, afraid for a second that it might blow up. Instead it rose a few inches above his head, floating in midair. The light grew so bright that it made him long for his shades, but he didn't dare look away. He heard the ogre roar, tumbling backwards and rubbing at its eyes, screaming something about being blinded. Yamaki pushed himself up onto his knees and stared at his glowing phone, mesmerized as it started to change shape.

It shrunk a little in size, becoming a mostly white, square-like device that could easily fit in the palm of his hand. There was a smaller square screen in its center, encircled by a dark purple ring. There were a few buttons on it, and a matching purple strap with a black clip on the end. Perhaps it was the lack of oxygen that caused his actions, but as the device continued to float in front of him, Yamaki hesitantly reached out for it.

Once he touched the device, his mind seemed to inwardly explode. Memories came to him so fast Yamaki only had a few seconds to process each one before it was pushed aside by a different memory. His real name was Takeru Takaishi, but he'd preferred to be called TK instead. His parents had gotten a divorce when he'd been four. He had an older aloof brother named Matt, who had always looked out for him and played the harmonica.

At eight years old he was brought to the Digital World and had met Patamon, his best friend and Digimon partner. With Tai and the others, they'd defeated foe after foe, made friends, and had saved the Digital World many times. Four years later he went back to the Digital World, fought and reformed a Digimon Emperor, and had finally defeated Myotismon. In the moments after their victory against MaloMyotismon, where the Dark Spore children had gotten their own Digimon, and Yukio Oikawa had died, his spirit taking on the form of butterflies that restored the Digital World, a giant red bird had appeared.

It banished them to the Real World with the promise that no human would ever remember anything to do with the Digital World.

The creature behind him was still screaming, bringing Yamaki out of his trance and he raced towards the bushes, finding his gun in mere seconds. He turned, now able to recognize the Digimon as Ogremon, and fired three rounds. The third shot proved to be unnecessary as the second bullet pierced the Champion's head, making him burst into a cloud of red data.

Yamaki collapsed to his knees, gripping his head in pain as he recalled everything that had happened. He had woken up a little over twenty years ago in a hospital, having no idea who he was or where he came from. Sudden Amnesia, the doctors had called it. At the time, it had been considered a worldwide phenomenon. Over fifty reported cases of children between the ages of seven to sixteen had contracted total amnesia. The even stranger part was that there had been no accounts of said children. No birth records could be found and no relatives came searching for them. He'd been sent to an orphanage and had met another child who'd had the same type of memory loss, Riley. Or maybe it would be more appropriate to call her Yolei? '_Does this mean I should start calling myself TK?_'

An enraged scream tore out of Yamaki before he could stop it and the turmoil of remembering everything that he'd lost made him gag.

The image of that giant bird Digimon was burned into his mind. Tentomon had recognized him, but it had been so long and everything had happened so quickly, he couldn't remember what name the Rookie had shouted in surprise. What Yamaki did know, was that he hated that Digimon for taking away his memories, for taking away Matt and the others, for taking away Patamon. His head shot up in alarm as he thought about his partner. He looked around the area, frantically hoping that this meant he would see his Digimon again.

"Where's Patamon?!" Yamaki directed the question towards the new Digivice in his hand. It didn't respond at all and he sighed heavily through his nose. "I'm assuming that because I have this, I'm now part of this new generation of DigiDestined?" He asked the inanimate object again, obviously not expecting an answer.

His mind turned towards the children, the new DigiDestined as they were, and he found his earlier dislike soothed slightly by the return of his memories. '_I guess the goggle thing will never go away. Tai would be happy about that._' And this thought made Yamaki wonder about the others.

What happened to them? Were they okay? He had no doubt their memories had also been erased. He made a mental note to have Riley track down any children from twenty years ago listed with amnesia. Then again, what was there any real point in finding them? They wouldn't remember him; not his friends, not his brother, and not even his real parents. Yamaki glared at the Digivice in his hand, feeling hatred and pain pulsing through him just by looking at it. The truth of everything, his forgotten past and lost loved ones, the reasons for why things were the way they were, was not as soul-crushing as it should have been.

The Digital World had ruined his life.

"If you think after what happened last time, that I'll willingly help the Digital World, then you've got another thing coming. I'm Mitsuo Yamaki now, not TK. You made sure of that. I am the Head of Hypnos and my duty is to delete any Wild Ones that try to Bio-Emerge into my world." He growled lowly as he retraced his steps and found his sunglasses, which were thankfully undamaged, and put them on. "This means nothing, it changes nothing. If anything, it just makes me hate Digimon even more." The angry man started to walk at a slower pace than usual due to his many injuries. His ribs ached and throbbed with every step and he reluctantly gave into the temptation of holding them.

While he meant every word, Yamaki could not ignore the positive feelings that were born from his regained memories. His thoughts centered on Patamon and he wondered how his partner was doing. Would they be reunited or would a different Digimon take Patamon's place? Yamaki scowled at that thought. While he may no longer consider himself TK, and he held a grudge against Digimon in general, he would never consent to anyone but Patamon as his partner. They'd been through too much together. He could now recall the look of horror on Patamon's face as the bird Digimon tossed them into the rift between their worlds.

"Only you Patamon, I will accept no one else." Yamaki promised as his hand clenched the purple and white Digivice tightly. He never noticed the yellow fox Digimon disappear from her hiding place behind a nearby tree.

~Virus of Hope~

"Man, this sucks. I don't know why I bother with this place, humans are so boring." A gritty, but young sounding voice complained as he stared down at the people on the street below. The owner of the voice was a two foot tall, purple Digimon. He looked like an imp, which was appropriate seeing as the Digimon's name was Impmon. The Rookie level Digimon had a red bandana tied around his neck, matching his gloves in color, with a yellow evil looking smiley face symbol on his chest.

He'd been in the Real World for a little over a week now and from what he could tell, humans were pretty lame. Every day he watched them move up and down the streets, going to work, home, or someplace else. They kept to themselves, ignoring everyone around them as they were mostly wrapped up in their own lives. '_What a selfish bunch__._' He thought with distaste as one human knocked over another, not even stopping to help or apologize as he sent the person's possessions scatter across the ground.

Green eyes narrowed as he picked up the scent of another Digimon, which he was pretty sure to be an Ogremon, disappeared from the park nearby. That wasn't surprising really, all Ogremon were pathetic. Impmon smirked as he jumped onto a parallel rooftop. He could have easily beaten Ogremon if he wanted to, but what was the point in wasting his strength on a weakling?

"Bet it was those dumb kids and their pet Digimon that took the chump out." He grumbled sourly as he turned towards the park entrance while making sure to keep his distance. "Yep, here comes foxy now." Impmon muttered as he saw Renamon dash out of the trees briefly before disappearing above the busy street. "Maybe I can mess with pineapple-head again and his dopey human." That thought was put on hold as someone, who was definitely not the kids, exited the park.

For some reason, Impmon immediately felt drawn to the human. He looked over the adult's appearance with more scrutiny than usual. The male wore black clothing that he believed to be called a suit, but it was ruffled and torn in some places. His hair was a dark blonde color, with dirt, cuts, and bruises decorating his narrow face. The human held himself stiffly with his left arm braced up against his side. His right hand though, was holding something that he seemed to be staring at intently.

Curious as to what it was, Impmon jumped down onto a streetlight before jumping onto a thick branch that was a few feet above the human. With his closer position, the Rookie saw that the human held one of them Digi-whatsits that those kids had.

"Ha, ya gotta be kiddin' me!" He laughed and the human startled only a little before his head shot up. Impmon couldn't tell if he was making eye contact, since the man's sunglasses were too dark to see through. "What poor excuse of a Digimon is stuck with a sap like you?"

"What was that?" The human asked, sounding irritated, which just made Impmon smirk triumphantly.

"Hey c'mon, I know the rules. Any human with one of those Digi-thingies gets a loser Digimon to follow them around like some sorta lapdog. It makes me sick!" He growled as he pointed at the offending device. The human seemed to share his opinion as he sneered down at the thingamajig too. His hand clenched around it so tightly, Impmon was surprised that it didn't break.

"I didn't ask for it. As far as I'm concerned, you Digimon are nothing but trouble." The human snarled back, making Impmon smirk again.

"Ha, ya darn right we are pal, and don't ya forget it! Badaboom!" He crowed, ignoring the few people who stopped to point and stare up at him.

"Oh don't worry, I won't." The human continued darkly, his arm pressing even closer to his side. It didn't take a genius like pineapple-head to know that he was hurt. "And once I perfect the Yuggoth program, you Digimon will be nothing but a bad memory."

"Huh? What's that suppose'ta mean?" He asked while eyeing the odd human.

"It means that I'm going to delete every Digimon that comes into the Real World."

"Say what? That sounds like fighting words to me." Impmon grunted before jumping back onto the streetlight. '_Geeze, what a creep._' "Lucky for you, I got places to be, so I'll have ta teach you a lesson next time, human!" He called as he backtracked his way onto the roofs. Impmon firmly told himself that he wasn't running away from the human. He just couldn't be bothered with someone who obviously was not worth his time.

~Virus of Hope~

Yamaki found himself watching the strange Digimon leave longer than was necessary. There was just something… familiar about him. His new Digivice, and it irked him to have to call it that, beeped before a holographic screen appeared above the device. It showed a picture of the retreating Digimon and gave a brief summary of his statistics.

"Impmon, a Rookie level Virus type–" He cut himself off and gritted his teeth as he glared after the Digimon. He hated Virus Digimon; they were always causing trouble of some kind. "Impmon loves pranks, so he enjoys seeing the embarrassed appearances of his opponents. Don't let his attitude fool you though, with his ability to summon fire and ice attacks, he proves to be a very versatile Digimon." The brief description ate at his insides, forcefully reminding him of Izzy. '_He would've have loved this._' Yamaki thought as he studied the Digivice.

The image of Impmon suddenly disappeared only to be replaced with what looked like a holographic compass that pointed in the direction Impmon had gone. '_Does it want me to go after him?_' He shook his head and began walking towards headquarters. He wasn't going to through this again. Right now all he wanted was for Riley to patch him up so that he could get some sleep. He'd deal with everything first thing tomorrow morning.

A breeze brushed over Yamaki, causing him to shiver violently. For a second, he thought he could see his own breath. The feeling of being watched caused him to turn around quickly, aggravating his wounded ribs. A few people stared at him, eyeing his injures with concern or distrustful glances, but he could spy no one that looked suspicious. He looked up at the sky, finding it layered with clouds. '_It's going to rain today._' The idle thought was so normal that it almost felt surreal after everything that had happened in the last hour. He almost broke out into a fit of laughter, but held it in to refrain from looking like a madman.

Brushing off the wary feeling, Yamaki continued on his slow trek to Hypnos.

~Virus of Hope~

A pair of pupil-less red eyes tracked the human's movements before a fanged smile broke over his pale face.

"So the Child of Hope has awakened, the Master will be most pleased to hear this." The figure chuckled darkly as his torn wings spread out behind his back, lifting him into the sky with ease. "Still, it would be a shame to leave before acquiring my new Tamer."

The creature hummed in thought for a second before phasing back into the abandoned building the he'd made his home. He studied the pillars of ice that housed different Digimon, his trophies, and paused in front of the one that he'd been searching for. With a swipe of his hand the ice shattered, releasing the Rookie Digimon that had been inside. He collapsed to the floor, trembling from the cold and gasping for air.

"Keramon." The Digimon flinched before looking up at him with wide, terrified eyes. His usually wide smile was noticeably missing as panic spread across his face.

"I-IceDevimon!" He allowed himself to smirk as the Rookie fell over, crawling on shaking limbs in a futile attempt to get away. The cowering and cries for mercy that followed though were annoying and grated and on the Champion's nerves.

"Be silent you fool!" He hissed and Keramon had enough sense to listen and obey. "You are still loyal to the Master, are you not?" The Rookie froze for a second before nodding quickly. "Good, then you will return to him and inform the Master that the Child of Hope has awakened."

"T-The one w-who defeated the M-Master long ago? He r-remembers?" Keramon gasped and IceDevimon growled at him.

"Is that not what I just said?" The Rookie cringed back for fear of being struck. "You are able to use the network to return to the Digital World, correct?"

"Yes, IceDevimon." Somehow the pathetic creature managed to answer without stuttering this time.

"Then do so immediately." Keramon nodded frantically before racing out of the room. IceDevimon chuckled after the fleeing Digimon. He had no doubt that the Master would be both pleased and furious with the news of the human's awakened memories. His temper and actions were almost always unpredictably, but IceDevimon didn't doubt that he would likely 'shoot' the messenger on this occasion. "Bah, better him than me." He shrugged before turning his attention to the little human who had caught his own eye. "Come to me Rika. With your strength, I'll finally Digivolve to my Ultimate level! No one will be able to stop me, no one, not even the Master!"

~Virus of Hope~

Announcer: "Who is this mysterious Master and what connection does he have with the DigiDestined of Hope? Find out on the next episode of Digimon: Digital Monsters!"

Ha, just kidding. But seriously guys, do you have an idea who the "Master" is? I'll say it right now, he's not Myotismon. That dude already came back at the end of 02, which I thought was a really cool twist till they ruined it by not actually fighting the guy and using the power of dreams and friendship to be beat him instead. I mean, I love Digimon and all, but c'mon! Seriously, that's the ending they went with? Where's the fighting? Myotismon was a lot more kickass as an Ultimate. Even VenomMyotismon was a better bad guy than MaloMyotismon.

As you can already guess, while I intend to keep the core elements of the Digimon show, this is going to be a little bit darker and more serious than normal. I always felt that Tamers was the serious rendition, what with the death of comrades, government and military involvement, and the different fighting style itself. Everything just seemed so grittier, like they were taking Digimon to the next level. I'm aiming to keep that seriousness as an almost constant throughout my story. There will still be light hearted moments, but those will mostly come from the kids' scenes while Yamaki will have grimmer parts.

I'm pretty sure most of you can guess the way some things will pan out at this point, so tell me what you think.

–Hexalys


End file.
